Disney certainly isn't selling whatever supernatural elements survived the temporary shutdown from late last year. This looks like a straight-ahead western adventure centered around the newfangled railroad, and it frankly looks pretty sharp. Gore Verbinski is nothing if not a visual stylist and this looks gorgeous. But the most promising sign is the fact that the trailer emphasized its time and place while all-but hiding Johnny Depp in the shadows. You get a few glimpses of Depp and Arnie Hammer, but most of this tease is just Tom Wilkinson (the villain, natch) talking about how much he loves trains with bits and pieces of what is allegedly an insanely elaborate train-set action sequence. Whatever you may think about the need for a Lone Ranger picture or whether it was wise to spend $200 million on it, this does look like something at least attempting to be a real movie, which I'd argue is the Verbinski touch. Anyway, this one drops July 3rd, 2013. As always we'll see, but I'm officially intrigued by the restraint and relative realism on display. This certainly *looks* closer to Pirates of the Carribean: Curse of the Black Pearl than Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. Your thoughts?
Scott Mendelson
Scott Mendelson
